AN Ibadan-based frontline sports enthusiast, Michael Sodeke, has lamented the neglect of sports sector in the Federal Government’s effort at combating the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

In a letter addressed to the Central Bank Governor, copied Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Sports Minister and dated May 4 2020, Sodeke lamented that the vital status of sports in the country had been downgraded, describing it as a grave injustice to the corporate comfort of Nigeria at this uncertain time.

“The Federal Government released a 251-page document in 2010 titled ‘Nigeria 20:2020’, which encompassed key sectors of the country. But the sports sector was left out, despite its unifying and nation-building factor,” Sodeke said.

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“A 140-page document was also launched by the FG in 2017 title ‘Economic recovery and growth path: 2017-2020’ and once again, the sports sector was not captured, despite the billions of naira budgets allocated to the Ministry of Sports and Social Development annually.”

Sodeke, who recalled that about N3bn was invested in the Nollywood industry in 2013 by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, contended that the fund helped to turn around the entertainment industry as a key sector of the economy.

Sodeke said he was concerned that the $2.7billion stimulus released by the Central Bank to aid the agriculture, oil, banking and the IT sectors in view of the prevailing COVID-19 and appealed to the federal government to redress the situation for the sports sector.